I just returned to Tel Aviv today. Very early in the morning, while walking to Jerusalem's Central Bus Station, I saw many black and white posters hanging on the walls almost right across the bus station.
The posters made a strange claim:
INTERNET would be the Gematria of 319. And the disease CANCER has the same Gematria.
Internet = Sartan (Cancer), this is the message of those posters. Warning Jews not to use the Internet; otherwise cancer is going to spread more and more.
For those who are not familiar with the term GEMATRIA: Every single Hebrew letter stands for a number. The Aleph for 1, Beit for 2, Gimmel for 3, Dalet for 4, etc. If you take all the letters of a word and count their numerical value together you are able to compare it with other words and there may be a connection. The most famous example: ECHAD (ONE) and AHAVA (LOVE) have the same numerical value: 13. Meaning that there is a connection between these two words: G - d is ONE and LOVE is connected to Him.
I hate when certain people pick out such Gematriot and make a claim. The person responsible for the content of the posters is probably someone who has no idea about computers and Internet.
There are always at least two ways how to use an invention: for the good or for the bad. The Internet is not only crime, pornography and abuse but it does include many positive sides.
I am the best example: When I still lived in Germany, there was only the Internet in order to learn more about Judaism. Getting to know other Jews, Halachot, Chassidut, Torah, you name it.
The place where I lived only had a small community full of Russians hardly knowing German let alone what Judaism stands for. The Rabbi was a crook and preferred people who paid him off.
Other Jews in the world may be so distanced from a Jewish community that the Internet actually helps them connecting to their religion. They can order or read religious books, listen to lectures and see the Kotel (Western Wall) in Jerusalem (Live Cam).
Why do people only have to concentrate on the negative sides of modernity ? I am a hundred per cent sure that the RAMBAM (Maimonides, 1135 - 1214) would have been very exited about the Internet. Surfing through all kinds of scientific sites and being a NASA member.:-)
For all the good the internet has done me as ba'al teshuva, in terms of Torah off the internet, I would still say without any doubt that it's more bad than good. I learned last week at a farbrengen, in which they were telling the bochurim the dangers and horrors of the internet, that some gedolim have given the internet a din of yichud. Do you know if this is a widely accepted view Miriam?
ReplyDeleteB"H
ReplyDeleteThe present Gerrer Rebbe doesn't allow his Chassidim to use the Internet. In fact, I am not sure how far the Issur goes.
Anyway, if anyone is working with the net, than he is probably allowed after receiving a special permission.
A few years ago, Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef considered the Internet as evil. A year or so later, SHASS launched its own website.
The same with different chassidic groups. Chabad is the leading chassidic power on the Internet. Followed by Breslov.
And look at Kaliv or Kalov also having their own sites.